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Batwoman proposes marriage to Maggie Sawyer

February 20, 2013

This Week in History: on February 20, 2013, Batwoman proposed to her longtime girlfriend, Maggie Sawyer. Lisa Batya Feld considers the impact of the restrictive Comics Code on the character's evolution.

She was conceived in 1956, reintroduced in 2006, and “rebooted” as a Jewish lesbian in 2011. And in 2013, she made history in the world of comics by proposing marriage to her girlfriend.

Batwoman Kate Kane is the comic world’s first Jewish lesbian superhero, battling the enemies of social justice. Like many of her comrades, she has a troubled past. Taken hostage with her twin sister on their twelfth birthday. Forced to leave the US Military Academy for acknowledging her sexuality. Falling into a wild social lifestyle after dropping out of college. But an encounter with a mugger where she uses her physical skill to subdue him leads to a meeting with Batman, who inspires her.

She hones her military skills and with the aid of her wealthy father acquires experimental weaponry and a bunker hidden in the family home. She celebrates Hanukkah with a girlfriend, battles archfiends Prometheus, Killer Croc, and Delores Winters, and fights crime with Wonder Woman, the Green Lantern, and Batman and Robin.

The original Batwoman Kathy Kane was introduced in 1956 as a potential love interest for Batman. A new editor removed her from the series in 1964, along with Bat-Girl and Bat-Hound, as characters that were extraneous to the Batman story he wanted to tell.

But in 2006 Batwoman reappeared as Kate Kane, and in 2010, DC Comics announced a new series of issues that would star Batwoman. While in earlier issues she was more isolated, writers J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman chose to expand Kate's supporting cast both in terms of her family (the Kanes, including sister Elizabeth, cousin Bette whose alter ego is Flamebird, and other relatives) and by working her more closely into the "Batman Family," who live, commit crimes, and fight for justice in Gotham City. In issue 17 of the series, Batwoman proposed to her longtime girlfriend, police captain Maggie Sawyer.

"Batwoman is an important character, and a socially important one that has meaning that extends well beyond the printed pages of the world she lives in, reaching out into ours possibly affecting those who encounter her story," Williams wrote on his official website. “[Issue 17] is an important issue in many respects, not just to Kate’s story, but to ours as well … While this new chapter brings lots of things to a head, it’s also the beginning of phase 2.”

Watch for the Bat Signal in the night sky to discover what happens next.